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Brendan Rodgers admits he had a 'close shave' when opting to take the reins at Liverpool rather than Tottenham Hotspur.

Last Updated: 20/12/13 9:01am

Brendan Rodgers: Building at Liverpool while Andre Villas-Boas finds himself out of work

The Northern Irishman was linked with posts at Anfield and White Hart Lane in the summer of 2012, with his success at Swansea City drawing admiring glances from afar.

Liverpool were in the market for a successor to Kenny Dalglish, while Spurs had to find a replacement for Harry Redknapp.

It was to be the Reds who got their man, with Rodgers favouring Merseyside over north London.

He is now convinced that he made the right call, with stability at a club on the rise standing in stark contrast to goings on in the capital - with Andre Villas-Boas the latest in a long line of managerial casualties at Spurs.

Asked for his take on a decision he took 18 months ago, Rodgers said: "A close shave.

"They (Tottenham) are a great club and one of the things I looked at was the history.

"They'd had 11 managers in 18 years there so, for someone like myself, I needed to create something. I needed to go to a club that was going to give us that opportunity.

"I am more than happy with the choice I made to come here and hopefully in time it will prove to be the right one."

Rodgers, who fought his own transfer battle over the summer as Liverpool battled to retain the services of star striker Luis Suarez, believes Spurs are paying the price for sanctioning the record-breaking sale of Gareth Bale to Real Madrid.

He added: "Obviously there have been difficulties from Bale leaving. It shows you that when you have someone with that X-factor, sometimes eight, nine or 10 players can't replace that.

"That was why we fought like tigers to keep Luis Suarez here. There are very few people who perform week in, week out to that level."